CFP - Special theme issue of CCQ - "Empowering Representations"
Lynne Howarth
Call for Papers:
Cataloging & Classification Quarterly (CCQ) Special Issue
Empowering Representations: Rethinking Surrogates from the Margins
The process of describing and categorizing a tangible or intangible object for inclusion in the collection of a cultural heritage institution (CHI) typically involves creating a surrogate. The surrogate represents the acquired item, its provenance, physical, intellectual, and other (e.g., temporal, spatial) origins and characteristics in accordance with established guidelines and standards, further informed by institutional policies and practices. Working within that framework, the “cataloger” selects what aspects of the object to include in the representation. Consistency and uniformity of interpretation and application across the range of physical and digital acquisitions held by a library, archive, museum, or other cultural heritage institution are hallmarks of the process of representation, and the creation of surrogates (an encoded record) that may be shared among similar institutions. There is an authority assumed in the representativeness of the surrogate as determined and applied by information professionals and their institutions as informed by long-established standards and practices, both nationally and internationally.
But what if those representations are themselves open to
interpretation, and candidates for the kinds of close scrutiny and substantial
rethinking that have emerged with movements, such as Black Lives Matter, Idle
No More/Indigenous Lives Matter, and issues relating to LGBTQI communities, persons
with dis/abilities, ageism, gender inequality, poverty, people without housing,
and others? Cataloging and
classification derive largely from 19th century approaches to
representation, codified, standardized, applied, and embedded within legacy
systems throughout the 20th century.
While technologies have allowed for some augmentation of surrogates by
those who use the collections, the core, largely Western European values and
applications have endured. By providing access to collections and to the
items and information associated with them, surrogates have served an important
purpose. Nonetheless, approaches to
representation deserve a closer look from a contemporary perspective. Informed by the lens of a social justice
imperative, what do we preserve, what can we rethink, what does that look like,
and how can and should it be done?
We seek submissions on theoretical and applied approaches to
representation from scholars and practitioners within North America or
internationally, whose work is focused on libraries, archives, museums, or other
cultural heritage institutions. We
encourage, in particular, papers that address solutions – innovations, novel
approaches, a fundamental rethinking of models or frameworks, inclusive
engagements with communities and/or collections that have been traditionally
marginalized, and reconfigured standards, tools, or technologies that signal
transformative change to the process of representation and the surrogates that
result. How do or will rethinking
theories or practices that have foregrounded certain worldviews to the
exclusion or obscuring of others lead to change that is measurably responsive to,
and inclusive of those who have been silenced, ignored, underserved, or
otherwise diminished?
Lynne
Howarth, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, and Katharine Leigh of
Ball State University will be guest editors for this issue, which is scheduled
for publication in late 2022. Following a two-step process, authors are invited,
first, to submit an extended abstract (1200-1500 words exclusive of references)
of their paper to the guest editors for initial review. If accepted, authors will then be asked to
submit an anonymized full paper which will be blind reviewed by a minimum of
two reviewers. Acceptance of the extended abstract does not guarantee acceptance
of the full paper. Those whose full papers are ultimately recommended for
publication will revise and finalize the manuscript following the timelines,
described below.
Please
contact guest editors, lynne....@utoronto.ca or kdl...@bsu.edu should you have any
questions about this call.
Schedule:
Extended
Abstracts of 1200-1500 words (exclusive of references) due to the guest editors
by or before: 31 October 2021
Note: Send the extended abstract as an attachment saved in a .doc, or .docx, or .rtf file format, to both lynne....@utoronto.ca and kdl...@bsu.edu.
Notification of acceptance of extended abstract and
invitation to submit an anonymized full paper for blind peer review: 30 November 2021
Full
papers for double blind peer review due by or before: 31 January 2022. Papers
must follow CCQ Instructions for Authors and be submitted through ScholarOne Manuscripts.
Peer
Review and notification of acceptance of full paper (pending revisions): 15 March
2022
Revisions to full paper due: 15 April 2022
Subsequent review of revisions, as
required: 15 May 2022
All manuscript revisions completed by: 15
June 2022
Publication:
Fall 2022